https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50979463


WTF is this all about?

 

Foxnews​

Pompeo on Qassem Soleimani strike: Iran now understands Trump will take 'decisive' action​

By ordering the airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, President Trump has demonstrated to Iran's leaders that he will take "swift, decisive" actions to protect Americans, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday on "Fox & Friends."

Pompeo stressed that the Trump administration has shown military "restraint" in the face of dozens of attacks directed by Iran and its proxies against American interests, culminating in the death of an American contractor in Iraq last week.

"I think the Iranian leadership understands President Trump will take action. ... We made very clear that these responses would be swift and decisive. We have now demonstrated that. I hope the Iranian leadership will see that and see American resolve and that their decision will be to de-escalate and take actions consistent with what normal nations do. In the event that they do not and they go in the other direction, I know that President Trump and the entire United States government is prepared to respond appropriately," said Pompeo.

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani promised early Friday to "take revenge for this heinous crime" carried out by the United States. Rouhani also said Iran would "raise the flag" of Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, "in defense of the country's territorial integrity and the fight against terrorism and extremism in the region."

The Pentagon confirmed Thursday evening that Trump had ordered the attack that killed Soleimani and other military officials at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. Iran’s top “shadow commander” was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more, the State Department said.

Pompeo said the strike was carried out to prevent an "imminent attack" by forces directed by Soleimani.

"He's got hundreds of American lives and blood on his hands. What was sitting before us was his travels throughout the region, his efforts to make a significant strike against Americans. There would have been many Muslims killed as well, Iraqis and people in other countries. It was a strike that was aimed at disrupting that plot, disrupting further aggression and we hope, setting the conditions for de-escalation as well," he said.

Pompeo said Trump has taken a "fundamentally different" approach to dealing with Iran, arguing the country was emboldened by the softer policies of the Obama administration.

"We didn't send pallets of cash to the Iranians. We didn't pay for hostages. We didn't create a deal which would have given them a clear pathway to a nuclear weapon. We have taken a very different approach. We believe it's the one that will ultimately lead to success and stability in the Middle East," he said.

Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, who served as Soleimani’s deputy commander since 1997, will now take over the helm as head of the Quds Force, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned "harsh retaliation is waiting" for the U.S.


​

 

Only Congress can declare war. This was an act of war.

 

Thats right, only congress can declare war....congress hasnt declared war,..... hence this isnt an act of war

 

#Soleimani's killing (execution) is for the Iranian Mullahs and Revolutionary Guard equal to if the 'Noble Cause' of the Rebel Confederacy had Robert E Lee been executed before or at Appomattox

 

Pompeo said the strike was carried out to prevent an "imminent attack" by forces directed by Soleimani."
"imminent attack"

"He's got hundreds of American lives and blood on his hands".

"We didn't send pallets of cash to the Iranians. We didn't pay for hostages. We didn't create a deal which would have given them a clear pathway to a nuclear weapon. We have taken a very different approach."​

 

This will not end well for either the USA or Iran.... Iran has had years to prep for an attack... Tho standard thinking during the cold war was to not cut off the head of the snake... Simply because there had to be a command structure in place to turn things off... This is not the case in these smaller regional conficts... Decapitating the enemy is a good way to send its forces into disaray. The ruling elite in Iran should be worried...

 

God dammit.

I fucking knew Trump would do something like this before being voted out.

The same fucking dickhead who said we needed to stop fighting in the Middle East just ordered the most divisive event in that region in years!

 

IF Soleimani was only the senior, primary face of a board of directors of the Revolutionary Guard and Qud Forces, his elimination would be a temporary shifting of chairs, since the decision making was a consensus of equals, including the 'first of equals'-Soleimani.

 

Folks it is you who started it. Wait for another 09 11

 

Oh that's funny to you?

Maybe we should crack jokes about when Chechen groups have attacked you in retaliation for your persecution of them.

Fucking hypocrite.

 

To reiterate its historical parallel, Soleimani was Iran's reverential equivalent to the Southern Confederacy's Gen. Lee. As was seen by what continued (successfully for the next 100 years) by the paramilitary and political reiterations of the 'Southern Cause' the peaceful surrender by Lee didn't end 'the Cause', so anticipate an Iranian chess play (w/coaching from their gleeful Russian and Chinese mentors) to the domestically driven tail-wagging-the-dog checkers-move by (Pompeo-guiding) Trump and the GOP's hoped for patriotic, lemming reaction from the American public for the upcoming election.

 

It's really not the same thing. The Confederacy was not a legitimate government. Iran's government is recognized by the international community.

This isn't some existential bullshit or thought exercise. The US military just committed an act of war against a UN recognized government. There isn't any chess move coming. This isn't a game. You flat out don't do this sort of thing in this day and age. Even the politicians fighting on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict weren't ordering hits on each other's military leaders, and they hate each other. Trump crossed the kind of line countries haven't crossed since the '90s.

Not everything revolves around us, and not everything is about us. It's this self-centered bullshit from both sides of the aisle that has gotten us here in the first place. No more.

 

My allusion to the Confederate States of America was to give an emotional reference point for those reading these threads as to the seriousness beyond the kabuki theater of choreography that may occur NOT in the Security Council, where the U.S., etal. have the veto power, but present a complaint in the General Assembly, which the Iranians could do while they (along w/the Ruskis and Chinese plan for a more demonic and cold-served revenge on the U.S.)

Though I don't think it would be done or seriously considered, I was see the parallels between the Persian Gulf and the location of the U.S. Task Force to the Chesapeake Bay of 1783 when the French Navy bottled up and successfully blockaded the 'Bay' so that the British were trapped at Yorktown. Considering the upcoming maneuvers the Iranians have with the Ruskis and Chinese, that would be a tantalizing ploy.

A cyber attack on a Cmd-n-Control center would be what I think might be tried.

 

What would happen if they did ?

 

Again, this isn't a game.

Iran is going to attack us. If not directly then through proxy groups.

There is going to be no grandstanding in the UN. Do you seriously not understand that we're past that?

You do not do those symbolic gestures in retaliation to an act of war.

 

iran is not ready for A war with the United States, Retaliation is a great deterrent

 

Oh please.

If you're so confident in that then you go fight.

 

Kabuki theater is a NECESSARY GAME OF OPTICS. per se..
The Iranians (Russians-Chinese) have time on their side with the Impeachment, the political campaign, and the Nov. elections as their easel to serve their dish of cold-revenge to show up the inept foolishness of (Pompeo-)Trump ploys.